History

Browsing through some old newspapers I came a cross this article on the origin of Orange Curaçao (Kansas City Star - June 25, 1894). It is an interesting historical account of how orange Curaçao (spelled Curacoa in the article) or Triple Sec (Cointreau) came to be. The original grades of Curacao are detailed and the "green ribbon" variety deemed the best. The green ribbon is a reference… [Continue]

The most popular drink in the world was once made using Acid Phosphate. Today, Coca-Cola no longer uses this unique ingredient, instead they have simplified their formulation by using phosphoric acid, which still makes it a phosphated soda, but not the classic version. The “phosphate drink” was the most popular… [Continue]

Ask most people what an Italian Soda is and they’ll usually describe a combination of flavour syrup and carbonated, or seltzer, water. If you search its origin on the Internet, the majority of the results describe it as an invention created by two Italian immigrants, who made the drink popular in San Francisco around 1925. But the reality is very different, and I find it odd that Americans… [Continue]

No discussion on cocktails is complete with out discussing the Singapore Sling. The history of the Singapore Sling was thoroughly documented by Mr. Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh in the Journal of Mixology (a book in which I also contributed an article). However, this post is going… [Continue]

The Mai Tai is a very misunderstood cocktail. Many people think this is a tropical fruit juice cocktail, but the reality is that this is a very strong rum based drink. The confusion comes from a hotel in Hawaii that modified the original formula in the 1950's… [Continue]

This particular cocktail ingredient has had a significant amount of discussion in the old blogosphere. Many of the cocktail luminaries, if there is such a thing, have researched the origins of this flavour syrup from the Barbados. None more than Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh. In a now defunct Martini Republic post,… [Continue]

Digging up old cocktails, or in this case fizz recipes, has led me to this interestingly named drink called the Peach Blow. The article is from the May 2^nd, 1909 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. A reader asked for the recipe of the Peach Blow and the Lilac Fizz. The newspaper was happy to oblige. Now, almost 100 years later, and right in the middle of peach season, I'm… [Continue]

A good drink can often be considered "moral suasion". A good one keeps you in your seat, but not by force, and a really good one can persuade you to happily open your wallet and order a second. When I came across this cocktail, in the 1873 Daily Picayune (New Orleans), it piqued my curiosity, partially because this was the very early years of the cocktail art, and it actually looked like a legitimate… [Continue]

At one point in time Claret Punch was an immensely popular concoction. It was the punch of choice for parties and the drink most enjoyed by the British in the 1800's. Today, if you sauntered into a North American bar and asked for a claret cup, you'd be hard pressed to find a bartender that could make it, let alone one that knows what claret is. It's too bad because claret cup has a… [Continue]

On any given day, if I were offered a properly made Ramos Gin Fizz I would never turn it down. This is a drink with a long history, dating back to 1888 and a unique taste and consistency that is hard to find in almost any other drink. The trick to the Ramos Gin Fizz is… [Continue]

An opportunity to present drink history to the bar community in New Orleans always inspires my creativity. With so many great bartenders and mixologists churning out great cocktails, my efforts are less public than they once were. I’ve eschewed the shotgun approach for the more refined sniper tactics. The Wet Grave is one of those bullseye cocktails that combines everything I love about drinks.… [Continue]

Naturally carbonated waters, from volcanic springs, were well known throughout history and prized for their unique properties. The effervescing nature of the water was an attractive quality, and was thought to be a natural tonic. The problem was that capturing and transporting these mineral waters was costly. Only a few places stocked mineral waters, with pharmacies being the most common.

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Fix the Pumps tells the real history of the soda fountain, starting with its invention, through its golden era of creativity and into its dependance on patent medicine and narcotics. The history of the soda fountain is as vibrant as any other period in American history.

Fix the Pumps provides a wealth of information on techniques employed by soda jerks. The recipes span the spectrum of… [Continue]

Here is an interesting article from the New Haven Register (August 18,1880) about how bourbon was made. It discuss both sweet mash and sour mash methods of making bourbon. It also lists a couple of laws I had never heard of before including the maximum amount of time for bourbon mash fermenting. I've transcribed the article, and back in 1880, it seems run on sentences were common.

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This topic has been debated a lot and nobody really knows where the word came from, but every once in a while somebody comes across an old newspaper article discussing this topic. Well, as I was researching through some archives of old newspapers, I came across a couple of articles discussing the origin of the word "cocktail". I decided to share them. The articles are interesting in that they are… [Continue]

When you think Tiki, you think tropical drinks from exotic locations like Polynesia, and people such as Donn the Beachcomber. You may also know that the tiki fad didn't begin until 1934. So, if Don the Beachcomber started the tiki fad, what were his influences? Obviously, the Caribbean and south pacific were big influences, but what exactly were these people drinking in those countries,… [Continue]

The origin of the word “cocktail” is one of those persistent little mysteries that many people would like to solve, but information doesn’t come easily. I’ve looked at this a couple of times, basically putting my spin… [Continue]

The most common references you will see about the Green Swizzle, are the recipe that incorporates creme de menthe, or the quote from "The Rummy Affair of Old Biffy". It has been said, many times, that the creme de menthe version is not the original recipe and that the original "has been lost in history" or that "it never existed". These two statements I do not agree with, and I've managed to… [Continue]

Few people know the difference between these two drink because they both contain gin, lemon and soda water. Some people throw the Gin Rickey into the equation to make things even more confusing. Just for the record, Gin Rickey's use… [Continue]

Last week Trevor Easter (bar manager of the Rickhouse in San Francisco) asked me a question about Jamaica Ginger for a cocktail that he was researching. It just happened that I did know a fair amount on the subject. While doing research for Fix the Pumps I came across some old recipes… [Continue]

I’m not sure who decides these things, but today (June 11th) is World Gin Day. So what does one do on a day that celebrates gin? I’d hazard a guess that we’d enjoy a gin cocktail. The obvious choices are the Negroni or Martini, but may I suggest The Filby? Yes, I’ve written about this cocktail before, but that was prior to having some very interesting information given to… [Continue]

Digging through some historical ephemera, I found this interesting ad from the 1800s for Burdock Blood Bitters. It was recommended to treat the four greatest afflictions in America; dyspepsia, biliousness, constipation and sick headache. A little fibre in the American diet might have helped. Anyway, the illness isn't the part that gets you, it's the advertising imagery. On the ad page is… [Continue]

After a day of working in the hot sun, a cool, refreshing drink is usually in order. What happens when you find out you have no lemons or limes? Beer is always and option, yes, but there are other choices. If you look back a couple hundred years, one of the common refreshers was Switchel. If you go back even further you'll come across its precursor Oxymel. What do these two drinks have in common?… [Continue]

Here is another old cocktail (fancy drink), circa 1873, that is named after Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia. The drink comes from an article published in the New Orleans Daily Picayune (1873 and was created by Mr. E.F. Barry, a bartender at the Everett House hotel in uptown New York. You may remember Mr. Barry as the one of the compounders of the Moral… [Continue]

Valentines day is a wonderful commercial holiday. If the governments of the world wanted to fix the economy, they’d just make Valentines a week event and everything would be fixed. But alas, only Hallmark had that level of ingenuity. Flowers, chocolate, cards, diamonds and a dinner out now represent the modern definition of love, which is paid in one annual lump sum, due on February 14th.… [Continue]